


Wind

by ViridianPanther



Series: Thirty Days [14]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Refusal Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-28
Updated: 2012-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViridianPanther/pseuds/ViridianPanther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They built the Crucible, but it didn't work. Now, nine months later, Shepard and Liara are on the run, seeding the information required to build the Crucible—and suggestions on how to make it work, this time—to future civilisations. Because, for them, there is still hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wind

It took them weeks to agree on a design for the beacons.

It had to look clearly artificial, of course: God doesn't build in straight lines. But what shape should it be? A pyramid? A tower? A black, cuboid monolith? What would draw maximum attention to the beacons, and the data archives hidden beneath them?

In the end, they didn't bother dressing them up as anything other than what they were. Liara approved a simple, two-metre radio mast with a flashing light at the top: clearly artificial, and, with any luck, advanced enough to be revered by the pre-historical inhabitants of this world, such that it wouldn't be destroyed.

This was the twenty-seventh beacon they'd planted. It was at the summit of a small hummock on Carpathia, a quiet garden world: the data archives, the copy of Glyph, and Liara's hologram were in a hollowed-out bunker underneath.

Of the ninety-six planets they'd seeded, nowhere near all of the beacons would be discovered.

Liara was confident, however, that some would.

The view from the hummock was wide, at least five kilometres around. One day, she hoped, some intrepid Carpathians would go in search of the distant red star that seemed to wink on and off: and, perhaps, when the time came, defeat the Reapers themselves.

She could see a column of smoke from the distance: seemingly not a natural forest fire. The Carpathians had already discovered fire: there was hope, then. Hope that they might be the ones to break the cycle, once and for all.

They were a long way from understanding space, let alone spaceflight, the Reapers, element zero and the improvements to the Crucible: the suggestions of computer viruses, bio-form targeting and a design for an alternate Catalyst that wouldn't require the overpowering of the Reapers' master control program.

But there was hope. Hope that they would, one day, understand, and win where they had failed.

"Is everything alright?"

Shepard was stood behind her, her hair buffeted by the wind into a tempestuous sea of brown. She hadn't cut it since she'd refused to activate the Crucible, nine months ago.

Liara wasn't sure she liked it.

"Yes. I was merely thinking."

Shepard held her hand, and they looked out upon Carpathia for a moment. The sun was going down, and, in that instant, this unspoiled world was beautiful.

"The self-test is complete, we're clear to go," Shepard said, turning for the shuttle. "I got a ping from Garrus and Cortez, they said they were headed for somewhere in the Arcadian Expanse."

They were still alive. "Good," Liara said, straightening herself and brushing the soil from her trousers. "I was thinking we might do Locus next. It's a garden moon with a maritime climate, they have a pre-industrial civilisation on the south continent."

"Ready?"

Dr Liara T'Soni took one final look at the alien world, the sun setting on people who might, one day, be the saviours of the galaxy.

The wind howled, and the beacon flashed crimson.

"Yes. Let's go."


End file.
